On behalf of the METRANS student team, I am pleased to welcome our new Lead Graphic Designer, Kavina Yasangbhai Patel. Patel earned an Undergraduate Degree in Urban Planning from CEPT University, India and recently joined USC as Master of Planning student specializing in Transportation Planning. Her responsibilities at METRANS will include design for both print and electronic media, including the design of the METRANS on the Move newsletter.   

Patel was introduced to METRANS by a fellow MPL student, who encouraged her to subscribe to the newsletter and become involved with the center. “I look forward to joining the METRANS team – meeting people, working with fellow students, and contributing the best products I can,” she noted.  “At METRANS, I know I will be working with students, professors and practitioners in the (transportation) field, and this variety will give me fresh perspective towards projects. I have always studied to be a planner; interaction with other roles related to transportation allows me to be aware of the various aspects of transportation planning.”

Prior to joining METRANS, Patel completed the Urban Fellowship Program at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in India, and hopes to follow this with internships focused on land use, transport integration, and transit oriented development. Her long term goal is to work as a transportation planner for large metropolitan areas in her home country, India.

Patel finds it is extremely important to understand planning at the global level, and selected USC in no small part because her studies there will afford her interaction with students all across the world.  She shared that she looks forward to extending her learning from her professors to her colleagues who come from various educational backgrounds, beyond her coursework itself. She also added that the pedagogy at USC and the exposure from METRANS would allow her to explore her research interests in India while giving her a backing of US based studies.

We wish her a great experience and look forward to her contributions. She can be reached at [email protected]